Where do Michigan colleges get students? Top feeder schools for fall 2018

A third of the current freshman class at Michigan State University and a quarter of freshmen at University of Michigan are public-school graduates from metro Detroit.

The high school sending the most students to MSU: Northville High School in Wayne County, with 128 graduates from its Class of 2018 in East Lansing.

Northville and International Academy in Oakland County tied for the public high school sending the most 2018 graduates to U-M: 99 each.

That's according to data from the state's Center for Educational Performance and Information, which tracks Michigan public school graduates through secondary education. (The state only tracks public-school graduates, so the private schools are not included here)

This post looks at the top high schools sending graduates from the Class of 2018 to each of Michigan's 15 public universities, 28 community colleges and 25 private colleges.

First, here's an online database that allows you to look up any Michigan public high school and see where its Class of 2018 enrolled in college.

College destination by high school

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Next is a database that allows you to type in the name of almost any college in the country and see enrollment by Michigan public high school for the Class of 2018.

For instance, if you type in "Harvard," you'll see a list of the high schools that sent students to Harvard in fall 2018.

You can also type in the name of a college and high school to see enrollment by that high school at a specific college.

A big caveat about the data: There is likely underreporting. CEPI got the numbers by matching Michigan's official list of public high school students against enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse Student Tracker.

However, the student's name or date of birth must be an exact match. Also, not every college participates in the National Student Clearinghouse program. (Among the non-participants: Hillsdale College, Notre Dame and the U.S. military academies.) A few highlights from the data:

About 89% of college-going students stayed in Michigan;

About 47% enrolled at a Michigan public university;

About 34% percent enrolled at a Michigan community college;

About 8% enrolled at a Michigan private college.

Our lists begin with Michigan's 15 public universities, ranked by the number of public-school students they enrolled from the state's Class of 2018.

1. Michigan State University: 5,848

1. Michigan State University: 5,848

MSU had 8,442 first-time freshmen in fall 2018; 5,848 -- 69% -- were Michigan public school students from the Class of 2018.

That's up from 8,108 and 5,066 respectively in fall 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students from the Class of 2018, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at MSU:

Northville High School, 128, 25%;

Detroit Cass Technical High School, 101, 23%;

Troy High School, 100, 25%;

Novi High School, 98, 23%;

Bloomfield Hills High School, 91, 24%;

Utica Eisenhower High School, 85, 15%;

Birmingham Seaholm High School, 78, 29%;

Walled Lake Northern High School, 74, 24%;

Rochester Stoney Creek High School, 74, 23%;

Rochester Adams High School, 74, 23%;

International Academy in Oakland County, 70, 20%;

Grosse Pointe South High School, 65, 20%;

Detroit Renaissance High School, 65, 30%;

Okemos High School, 64, 26%;

Clarkston High School, 64, 15%.

2. Grand Valley State University: 3,233

2. Grand Valley State University: 3,233

GVSU had 4,369 first-time freshmen in fall 2018; 3,233 -- 74% -- were Michigan public school students from the Class of 2018.

That's up from 3,185 and 3,023 respectively in fall 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students from the Class of 2018, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at GVSU: